1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a display module including a display panel to display images through liquid crystals and a backlight unit to irradiate the display panel with light, and a display apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display module, which is generally a device including a display panel to display images, is used in a wide range of display applications including monitors and televisions.
Among the display modules, those employing a liquid display panel have been widely used.
Recently, in order to achieve slim design, light weight and lower power consumption, a flat panel display device has been developed as a replacement for cathode ray tubes.
A representative example of the flat panel display device is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, which displays images using electrical and optical characteristics of liquid crystals.
The LCD device is provided with a liquid crystal display panel to optically display images, and a backlight unit to supply light to the liquid crystal display panel.
The liquid crystal display panel is a device which displays images optically by applying a voltage to the liquid crystals sealed between two transparent substrates so as to change the direction of alignment of the liquid crystal molecules to adjust the light transmittance.
Since the liquid crystal display panel does not emit light itself, the display module includes a backlight unit disposed at the rear side of the liquid crystal display panel to irradiate the liquid crystal display panel with light.
It is a recent trend to use backlight units employing printed circuit boards and light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted on the printed circuit boards to emit light.
As a light source of the backlight unit, the cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) has been used, but today the LED is predominantly used as it is more advantageous than the CCFL in terms of weight, thickness, power consumption, color range, switching time, service life, and the like.
Depending on positions at which the LEDs, the light emitting sources, are disposed, the backlight units are divided into edge-lit backlight units and direct back light units.
The edge-lit backlight units have the LEDs disposed at the edge of the liquid crystal display panel, while the direct backlight units have the LEDs disposed throughout the entire rear surface of the liquid crystal display panel.
For the direct backlight units, a flexible printed circuit film, on which a driver integrated circuit (IC) is mounted, is positioned between a middle mold and top chassis formed of plastics since the backlight units structurally increase product thickness.
If a flexible printed circuit film is positioned between a middle mold and top chassis formed of plastics as above, heat generated at the driver IC may not be dissipated, leading to an overall increase in temperature.